Father's Day

The bible tells us to honor thy father and thy mother, and we take the opportunity to pay tribute to the old man on the third Sunday in June.

Here's the inevitable history lesson . . .

Mother's day evolved from Civil War dedication ceremonies to promote peace and reconciliation among grieving Union and Confederate mothers. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson approved a resolution that made the second Sunday in May a holiday in honor of “that tender, gentle army, the mothers of America.”

Fathers would not achieve the distinction of a day of their own for another 58 years.

Early attempts to establish a national Father's Day met with resistance because most men “scoffed at the holiday’s sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products – often paid for by the father himself.”

During the Great Depression, retailers redoubled their efforts to officially recognize a Father's Day in order to sell more gifts, including tobacco and pipes, sporting equipment such as golf clubs and fishing gear, tools, greeting cards, and items of apparel - hats, gloves, argyle socks, and the ubiquitous necktie.

My dad's favorite trick when opening a greeting card was to rip it from the envelope, and before reading the front of the card or the sentiment inside, he would flip it over and look at the price. Over the years, it was a running gag in my family to see who could find the most elaborate and expensive Father's Day card.

But it would not be until 1966 when President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

To have a father — to be a father — is to come very near the heart of life itself. In fatherhood we know the elemental magic and joy of humanity. In fatherhood we even sense the divine, as the Scriptural writers did who told of all good gifts coming "down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" — symbolism so challenging to each man who would give his own son or daughter a life of light without shadow. 

Our identity in name and nature, our roots in home and family, our very standard of manhood — all this and more is the heritage our fathers share with us. It is a rich patrimony, one for which adequate thanks can hardly be offered in a lifetime, let alone a single day. Still it has long been our national custom to observe each year one special Sunday in honor of America's fathers; and from this year forward, by a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, that custom carries the weight of law. 

This is fitting and good. Let each American make this Father's Day an occasion for renewal of the love and gratitude we bear to our fathers, increasing and enduring through all the years. 

Richard M. Nixon, May 1st, 1972

And just to be clear, the official spelling is Father's Day, with the apostrophe before the s.

Today, the holiday is celebrated with traditional rituals involving weed-whackers and barbecue grills.

This holiday may be the ultimate proof that every dog does have his day, and with this in mind we chose our Father's Day menu.

In keeping with my practice of gathering research for this blog and presenting the information in appetizing bites, we naturally looked under the skin to find out exactly what goes into America's number one sausage. You really don't want to know. Nevertheless, hot dogs remain one of our favorite guilty pleasures.

In Chicago, it is said that a hot dog is just an excuse for having a salad. Actually, it is an entire meal on a bun. Start with all beef Kosher jumbo wieners and poppyseed buns. Add yellow mustard, neon-green sweet pickle relish, chopped white onions, tomato wedges, a dill pickle spear (the crunchy, refrigerated kind), sport peppers (pepperocinis may be substituted), and most importantly, celery salt.

Be forewarned - putting ketchup on a hotdog within Chicago city limits is a hanging offense.

As for a side dish, it is a tossup between baked beans (homemade or Bush's Best Original), potato salad (definitely homemade), or Cole slaw (yes, even more veggies).

Baked beans from scratch, whether oven baked or slow cooked in a crockpot, is a complicated recipe, balancing the flavors of bacon, brown sugar, molasses, and onion, as well as cooking time to get a fully cooked but toothsome bean, and I am usually disappointed in the results. Bush's are tasty and reliable, and we enjoy all the varieties.

We have a great potato salad recipe using Yukon Golds, hard-boiled eggs, Hellman's mayo, white onions, celery, green peppers, and capers. But again, this is a labor intensive project. Commercially prepared Cole slaw is generally too sweet for our taste, and my wife makes a fabulous homemade slaw starting with a Cole slaw "kit" from the grocery store produce section.

A bag of Jay's potato chips (a Chicago classic) can be used in a pinch.

Dessert can be summed up in two words - ice cream. What better day to have a sundae than Father's Day Sunday? Pick up a good, quality ice cream (my favorite is Oberweis), a jar of hot fudge, a package of chopped nuts, whipped cream (we use the refrigerated spray can) and a jar of maraschino cherries.

One of my favorite Father's Day traditions is watching the U.S. Open Golf Tournament on TV. I'm not a big supporter of the game, due to its elitist history as a rich man's game, and I do not play. One time I went golfing with my brother and a couple of friends (who were serious golfers) because they needed a forth. By the third hole, they instructed me to pick up my golf ball and throw it, instead of uselessly whacking away at it all afternoon. But I do like following the four Majors throughout the season.

So remember to give dad a break. When he was your age, he had to walk twenty miles to school in a snowstorm, uphill, in both directions, barefoot!